Back today with an update on the declutter and reorganization of the closet in my guest room. It is a long closet with one side housing home decor type items and the other housing stationary and office supplies. It was overcrowded with too much stuff and it was time for a change.
I have recently been working on the office supply side as I had completed the decor side last year! Most recently, I had cleaned off the shelves, removed them from the closet and went on to remove the items up to the dresser (which is staying for now).
I finally figured out what I wanted to use for new storage in the closet so I ordered from IKEA and went to laying it all out and putting it together.
It was suggested that I put the unit together inside of the closet and I wish I could have. However, because of how IKEA has you assemble its products, I had to do it outside of the closet and get help to put it in its space. The closet doors are huge sliding glass doors that are much heavier than I recall. I can put them back on the track when they get dislodged but I could not take them out and put them back on my own.
IKEA uses these dowels to attach pieces to each other. They are easy to use but definitely require some force to push them in properly. Don’t use too much force though because they will break (ask me how I know)!
I had hoped that I could finesse the piece into the closet but that wasn’t happening! The neighbor help came to the rescue!
After putting it together and getting it into the closet, I was excited to start filling it up. I knew that I would use baskets for some items but it still felt like something was missing. When I was looking on the IKEA site, I noted that they offer inserts to add to these units. I added a couple of drawer inserts and and a shelf unit. This provides not only visual interest it also helps to hide some items that work best in a drawer.
I put items into the shelf though this likely won’t be the final configuration. I just wanted to get an idea of where things could go in the meantime and also get them off the couch and the floor.
This part of the journey is done but we are inching closer and closer to the finish line. As you recall, decluttering this closet is part of the larger goal of decluttering and organizing the guest room overall.
Here is a list of some of what still needs to be done in this closet and in the guest room:
- Declutter the craft dresser
- go through home decor (again)
- declutter and organize home decor
- declutter closet shelf
- donate shelves from the closet
- donate 4 drawer filing cabinet (in the guest room)
- declutter sports and exercise equipment
- create/find space for paper files
- whatever comes up as I move along in this process
There are a couple of plastic carts that I plan to hold on to for the time being. I think these may be useful in my craft area (which also needs organizing) or with my workout and sports equipment in the office. I’d rather wait to see if I need them and not have to buy something new. If I don’t use them, then I will donate them.
I am continuing to work on my goal of not moving on to the next project until this one is complete! It’s hard because as I move things around and open other closets and drawers I immediately want to start working on those (pantry, linen closet, kitchen cabinets).
However, I am committed to staying the course. I genuinely want a space for everything and everything in its space.
I’m thinking about scheduling some goal end dates to help keep me on schedule with this office closet project. I don’t think that I’ll be done with the entire project in the next month. Rather than procrastinate because I feel overwhelmed, I’ll schedule tasks each week or two so that I am constantly making progress. Decluttering items and donating go hand in hand. I have a terrible habit of decluttering and then just having stacks of boxes sitting in my dining room. Now when I declutter, I’m going to leave the boxes closer to my front door so that I see them everyday to remind myself to take them to the donation center.
In that spirit, the next two tasks will be to take items already packed for donation and go through home decor and storage item to declutter and/or donate.
Any thoughts on what I should do next? Share in the comments.
